


i carry your heart (i carry it in // my heart)

by raynos



Series: Wilde Spirit [2]
Category: Zootopia (2016)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Supernatural Hunters, Folklore, Gen, Ghosts, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Mythical Beings & Creatures, Supernatural Elements, Zistopia
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-01
Updated: 2016-12-20
Packaged: 2018-08-28 08:34:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 13,881
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8438674
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/raynos/pseuds/raynos
Summary: Judy Hopps and Nick Wilde have a fairytale time in the woods - of the Brothers Grimm variety.
Follow the exorcist and her guardian spirit as they observe the traditions of crossing thresholds, making offerings and keeping the peace on the dark paths of Bunnyburrow.
Set in the Wilde Spirit verse.  Click on the series link for more context.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> _The art of trusting is a war between your heart and what you know_

Judy had grown up on her family farm. She knew the feel of the earth beneath her feet, the shift of the land as she moved from the orchards to the fields, and her home at the center of it all. But as a spirit sensitive, and now as a trained exorcist, she had gained a new appreciation that while the Hopps farm was a constant within Bunnyburrow, it was never static, always shifting.

She had already set off the latest change by arriving in full exorcist uniform, right down to the sword on her back. Judy Hopps may have grown up on the farm, but Exorcist Judy Hopps had cut her teeth on the streets of Zootopia. This was her first formal visit home since she'd assumed her position, and the land was aware of that.

If Judy was able to tell all this from knowing the land, Nick knew all this from his ability to read arrays, part of the powers that came with being a fox spirit. That could have explained the trepidation in his gaze as he observed the threshold in front of them, as if he were facing Mr Big again.

"It won't seem so frightening in a moment," she assured him. She stepped over the threshold, back _home_. With a confidence that ran in her blood, she held out her paw to him and invited him onto her land. "Nick Wilde, come on over."

It was an attention grabbing statement. With those words, Nick Wilde became a focus point of the energies of the land. Perhaps that was why he held on so tightly to her paw as he stepped over the threshold.

No sooner had he done so that he shook himself all over, like a canid shaking off water. "Tingly," he remarked. "Does that happen to all the guests, or is it special treatment for me?"

"Only the spiritually sensitive ones," said Judy, keeping an eye on the auras outside of Nick's customary green that seemed intent on following him like a storm cloud of energy. Any medium could have picked him out from a mile away, but the only medium Judy was concerned about was her mother, back at the farm house. "Come on, my parents are waiting."

 

Judy had called her parents to let them know Nick was coming ahead of time. But just as not all models of mobile phones worked on Hopps lands, technology still left Judy guessing at how her parents would react to Nick.

From her parents' confused expressions as they greeted them at driveway, they were still figuring it out too.

Nick, for his part, had gone on the charm offensive. "Mr and Mrs Hopps." He shook their paws in turn. "I'm Nick Wilde, I worked with your daughter on the Nighthowler case. Did she happen to mention that to you?"

Dad stared at his paw, surprised by Nick's ability to go solid. "Well, he's definitely not a Grey."

"I'd say. I suppose he made it across the threshold, though that's a very interesting reaction his aura had to the energies of the land. They've gone all clingy."

"Guys," Judy half-hissed. "He's right in front of you."

"Right right, yes," Dad squinted up at Nick. "I'm better with living aura than spirit types, but I'm sure the exorcists in Zootopia know what they're doing in assigning you as a guardian to our daughter. Right, Bon?"

Despite Judy's insistence, Mom still spoke to Judy rather than Nick. "I suppose a guardian spirit is better than none. Are you sure you don't want to speak to any of the family spirits, Judy?"

"Nick saved my life. Without him, I have no idea what Dawn Bellwether would have done using that doll she had of me."

"I suppose a life debt's good enough to go on," said Mom, though her frown hadn't eased. "Mr Wilde, would you like to come in? We've prepared something, since we'll have to trouble you to look after our Judy while she's in Zootopia."

"Just do your job and you'll be fine!"

Nick was smiling, though it was the type of smile that made Judy recall their exchange just after she bought him a jumbo pop. "I'm sure if it's too hard to trust what's in front of you, it's always good to trust in a higher authority like the ZED. How could I turn down such a basic request?"

Judy's parents were satisfied with Nick's response from the way they turned to head into the house, but Judy felt the inside of her ears heat up. She tugged on Nick's sleeve before he could follow them. "I am so sorry about that."

"Fox spirit, Hopps," said Nick, his paws stuck in his pockets. "I've had worse than being overlooked. Asked to do worst things even, than do my job or look after daughters."

"That doesn't make it right!"

"It took the Nighthowler case for us to trust each other. I don't suppose you have any great mysteries lying about Bunnyburrow, do you?"

Bunnyburrow was short on great mysteries, but there might be something that an exorcist and her guardian could do. Judy was sure of it when she saw the food her parents had laid out for Nick on the kitchen table.

"No blueberries?" Nick wondered.

"Wrong season," said Dad. "You've tried our blueberries?"

"Sir, I adore them," said Nick, hand over heart. He didn't need to play it up. Dad trusted anyone that knew to appreciate the results of his work. Judy could see him softening in the way he settled back on his heels and nodded, half in acknowledgment and half to himself.

It would be harder to convince Mom. Judy plucked an apple from the table. From its redness matched by the vividness of its aura and its weight, Judy was sure it was a fall apple, and about the right time for the busiest time of the year for a medium. "Have you finished giving all the offerings to the unclaimed spirits?" Judy asked.

"There's been a lot that requires personal attention this year, I have Hazel and Peter covering the south - "

"Great!" said Judy, before Mom could rattle off a list that Judy was almost sure she knew by heart. "There must be something an exorcist and a guardian could do, right? After all, exorcists almost never come to this part of the woods."

Mom only hesitated a tick over Judy's suggestion, before she said, "There might be a thing for an exorcist and a guardian to do, yes."

A thing that had been mulled over, and considered, and raised delicately when finally spoken of aloud. Judy should have gone carefully where mediums feared to tread, but she hadn't made exorcist by being cautious. "We'll do it."


	2. Chapter 2

Coming to Bunnyburrow in the sunlight, Nick had not expected the small town to possess dark paths in spooky woods. But that was exactly what he and Judy were walking on now.

Well, Judy was walking on. Nick was floating because in Bunnyburrow, the ground _talked_.

A slight exaggeration, but that was the best way to describe the general sense of curiosity and regard from the Hopps farm and the hooded and hungry attention from the woods. The Hopps farm made him want to babble about his intentions and his life story up to and including one Judy Hopps. The woods made Nick want to tamp down and keep everything away, even Judy if he could tuck her away like a secret.

Perhaps that was why Judy was tiptoeing across the woodland path. As if her full height wasn't good enough, her ears were perked and quivering at their full extension.

Nick tweaked the very tip of one ear. "So does this work like a TV antennae? The longer you pull it, the better the reception?"

Judy started, before the nervous tension seeped out of her to be replaced with a smile. "You're showing your age, TVs haven't had extendable antennae in ages."

"No! Next you'll be telling me that we carry our phones around in our pockets!" Judy's laugh seemed to ease the shadows of the dark canopy that Nick dared his next question. "Take pity on my old delicate heart then, Carrots. Why have you led me into these dim dark woods? Are you going to eat me like the wolf ate poor Grandma?"

"If we're talking fairytales, the only one who qualifies as Little Red Riding Hood is you, Mr Red Fox."

"That's not much better on the odds of getting eaten."

"We're just making offerings to spirits who don't have a family to look after them. There's no reason for you to be afraid of your own kind."

"Mmhmm. And the woods are just naturally dark and dreary."

Judy looked up at the canopy, though there was no relief to be found in spindly branches shrouded in heavy leaves. "There are some spirits that can't control their anger and aggression. That makes them difficult to care for, and sometimes their family would prefer someone more professional to take care of them."

"Mediums and exorcists."

"You've been through the training. You know what exorcists do now."

"If this spirit is angry enough to suck all the light out of the woods, why hasn't he been, you know." Nick drew a claw across his throat.

"Bunnyburrow's not Zootopia. An exorcist hasn't been summoned in the last 200 years. We have our own way of dealing with things."

"Ways that involve picnic baskets apparently."

"How else would you carry offerings? That reminds me." Judy had in her hand another apple, this one even more round and red and perfect than the last one because she'd plucked it with her own paws. He could see the beginnings of an array from where she had left her marks. "Eat this."

"Are we re-enacting Snow White now? I generally don't accept apples from strange women in forests."

"It's just that... see, your status as my Guardian is considered a formal appointment by the authorities in Zootopia. It might not be recognised here."

"But Bunnyburrow recognises apples?"

"It'll recognise you've received a gift from a Hopps."

"You should have reminded me to bring my carrot pen." Nick wasn't sure if the pen would have the same significance beyond the personal. Feeding an entire town gave a Hopps responsibility that could be ended by either side. Giving offerings to a spirit encouraged them to talk to you, but it didn't guarantee a favour.

Then there was this. "Feed me."

She rolled her eyes, but did so. He bit into the apple as she held it up for him, wondering if her aura sensitivity would let her read the significance of the action. He hadn't just accepted a favour from a Hopps. Like a bird fed from the hand, he was hers now.

Maybe she did. She was suddenly fixated on his mouth, where the aura of the apple still lingered. He was almost sorry that he'd eaten the apple now. It would have been nice if Judy had tried the apple in all its glory.

She mistook the focus of his gaze as a silent rebuke for staring, dropped her ears and looked away. "So! Do I have to keep holding it?"

"You were feeding me just fine." He thought of asking her to take a bite, even now. He thought of bobbing apples on string and mouths meeting in the middle. But the living didn't share food with spirits. Once the aura was diminished, the taste too was drained and the apple now was a sad shadow of its former self. "But I'm not hungry anymore, Hopps. Don't we have another spirit to feed?"

"Right. That. His usual haunt is a little further down."

As they walked, Nick could no longer ignore the woods. The shadows beneath the trees had taken on the velvet of night, though it had been early afternoon when the two of them had first entered the woods. There had been no hint of sunset since. That should have filtered between tree trunks that appeared closer in this part of the woods, despite the logic that they could not grow so close.

Judy too had drawn closer, though her scars were not glowing. Nick wondered if 'yet' had any place in that observation. Maybe the woods wouldn't seem so terrible with a hint of glamour, a little glimmer of light. Nick snapped his fingers.

The shadows intensified. Nick could see the glamour holding the darkness together more clearly after his meddling. Judy now walked shoulder to shoulder with Nick, her aura extended over him like a casual arm draped over shoulders.

So Nick kept it casual as he asked, "What did you tell me about the spirit again?"

"I didn't." Judy's eyes were fixed on the well worn path, where the edges were growing fuzzy from disuse. "What do you want to know?"

Open ended questions meant that there was a lot here that could be said. Nick picked the broadest request. "What's his story?"

"Where there have been rabbits, there have always been foxes."

"And coyotes and wolves and lynxes -"

"Shush, I'm telling a story as it was told to me. In this story it's about foxes and rabbits and the uneasy truce between them. There wouldn't be foxes in this town if it weren't for rabbits, and there wouldn't be a Bunnyburrow if it weren't for rabbits. Some folks like to focus on the second more than the first."

Perhaps because it was a story Judy had heard that her voice was sidling from her more clipped tones in Zootopia to something drawled, with lilts in parts of the words. Perhaps that was why Nick let himself be lulled by the sound of the words rather than their content. "From what I hear tell, a rabbit was minding her own business when a fox came by and whistled at her. No more, no less. She came home, and told her brothers, and they decided they didn't like it. It was on this path that they caught up with the fox, beat him up and strung him up. The fox hasn't left the forest since."

The words sank into the darkness of the woods, covered their starkness like the loam of graveyard dirt covered the white of bone.

Nick Wilde went to the other extreme. "Remind me never to whistle at you, Carrots."

Judy grinned at Nick, a flash of white teeth in the dark. "If my brothers even tried to defend my virtue, they'd be trussed up in the fields before they even got to you."

"I'm not sure if I should be flattered or intimidated."

"You wouldn't be the one trussed up."

"I am extremely grateful for that."

Judy's bold statements reminded Nick that Judy had stood up to fox spirits, even Nick himself, long before he'd thought to worry. Judy's mom had agreed that they should visit the woods in her stead this year. Yet he couldn't help but look around with ears pricked when Judy reached the place where her mother customarily left offerings.

Nothing. Just glamour induced gloom, likely hiding silent arrays beneath that.

There was no point in staring at either. If these were dormant now, they would remain so until they were triggered. Nick turned his attention to Judy and the offerings she was laying out. There was a good variety - apples, hazelnuts, baked goods both of the dense and fluffy sort, even drinks though the flask hid from Nick exactly what it was. Judy was pulling out sticks of incense, which could be enjoyed on its own or used by a spirit to add more flavour to the offered food. As Nick watched she lit the incense, her lighter a brief flare in the dark. A few waves of the incense and she was done, tucking the sticks in the ground behind the food.

"That's it?"

"Mom would usually talk to him. I don't think he'd want to talk to an exorcist, but we'll wait a while to be sure."

She sat on a rock that seemed to be placed there for that purpose. Nick could imagine Bonnie Hopps sitting there, prim with her paws folded in her lap. Judy was less of a fit - she had some trouble figuring out where to put her sword, then her feet before she settled on drawing her heels up to rest on the top of the stone as well. She rested her arms on her knees.

There was just enough space for a fox spirit. Nick settled next to Judy, waiting to see if the ground still talked to him. The stone and Judy's aura provided enough buffer that Nick could ignore the woods to look out for another fox spirit.

A fox spirit that didn't want to show himself. Lulled by the incense and the quiet, Nick could have drifted off.

He might have, since he was startled by Judy's "I'm sorry."

"You're going to need to more specific than that, Carrots."

"I wanted to show you more of Bunnyburrow than... this." Whether she meant the dreary woods or the story she'd just told him wasn't clear from the vague wave of her hand. "This was meant to be a break after Academy. Instead you're out here, proving yourself again. As you've had to ever since you've become my Guardian... I thought my family would know better."

"You saw it yourself. 200 years of darkness can't be dispelled with a snap of the fingers. Or having dark thoughts in dark woods." He drifted off the rock. "This fox has kept a lady waiting long enough. How about we blow this pawpsicle stand and go exploring. Wander the town centre? Walk other non-creepy woods? Steal other things off your family farm? I'm sure you have more than apples."

"It's not stealing when we'd give it to you if you just ask!" Judy laughed as she slid off the stone.

"Then I won't ask or it'll take all the fun out of it."

Judy had caught up to try to punch Nick in the arm, although he'd gone intangible enough that it ghosted through him. Despite her amusement Judy had kept her aura thrown over the both of them. She might have walked these woods before, but she wasn't entirely comfortable.

Perhaps that was why she started at the fork in the road. "Forgot which way, Fluff?"

Her nose was twitching. That almost distracted him from her dire words. "There's not supposed to be a fork in this part of the woods."

He knew glamours from using them on Finnick and pawpsicles. This wasn't glamour. "Well, this path is as real as you and I. It's probably been here all along, hidden until now. The only thing missing is a sign that says, 'It's a trap!' "

"We know that. But we can't risk anyone else walking these woods."

If Nick was still a pawpsicle hustler on the streets of Zootopia, he would have said anyone walking in these woods deserved it. But he was a Guardian spirit now, and a guest of Bunnyburrow.

"Down the road less travelled then," said Nick, and followed Judy into the dark.


	3. Chapter 3

The darkness thickened like heated syrup as Judy and Nick walked along the path. It was a physical force to Judy - glamour had been laid on so thick that she was breathing in aura, as if it were humidity in the air.

Mom had not spoken of this experience when visiting the spirit in the Westwoods. Actually Mom didn't speak about the spirits she visited at all. She had believed that her spiritually sensitive children should hear what the spirits had to say for themselves. Judy herself remembered fall as a time of visiting spirits, and trading stories afterwards with her brothers and sisters.

No Hopps children had visited this spirit before. Even the story that Judy had told Nick was a story from Uncle Albert, who was the only one that had gone with her Mom into the Westwoods. That was why when Judy saw the new path in the woods, she'd worried about the dangers it posed to innocent travelers.

She ought to have thought about the danger to Nick too. Nick didn't have to prove he was as good a guardian as Uncle Albert, who had years on him. The harsh glamour of the forest got to him too, she could see from the rounding of his shoulders that it weighed on him, dragging him down -

"Dark thoughts for dark woods," Nick repeated. "You done running in circles in your head, Fluff?"

She meant to reply, but choked on the aura dense air and ended up coughing. Nick went solid enough to pat her on the back. She adjusted to the heaviness in the air to say, "I'm fine. You're not having trouble, are you?"

"Carrots, I'm not the one coughing instead of talking. If it's too much effort to wrap me in a fuzzy wuzzy blanket of aura, you should save it for yourself."

She looked down the path of gnarled trees and decaying darkness, so far from the proud plants and the vibrant growth on the Hopps farm. "It's the least I can do when you're here because of me."

"Was I supposed to let you go walking alone in these spooky old woods?" He tugged on her ear again. "You might hear everything but you need a memory upgrade. Don't you remember your Mom saying this was a thing for an exorcist and a guardian? I'm pretty sure the guardian part of it was referring to me. 'Sides, I belong in this part of the woods more than a cute little rabbit."

"It's the Westwoods of Bunnyburrow. I'm sure 'cute little rabbits' belong here more a Zootopian city fox."

"Ah, but can the bunnies of Bunnyburrow do this?"

With a grand wave of his paw, a pair of orbs by their feet took on a green glow, followed by another pair, and another, and more in rapid succession until the entire path was lined on both sides. At their next step on the path, aura flared upwards from each orb like tongues of flickering flame.

Nick grinned in the cold light. "Can't have foxfire without a fox."

"Show-off." Judy had shot Nick a grin, but ducked her head just as quickly. Nick's satisfied grin had drawn her eye to the aura of the apple still smeared on his muzzle. There was no good reason the glimpse should have given her inappropriate thoughts about checking whether the traces of aura still tasted of apple. All her senses were playing tricks on her - her eyes with the inappropriate lingering, her sense of touch and smell blanketed by aura, her ears hearing the wind in the trees as weeping -

She paused as the sound of weeping whispered through the woods again. The darkness thickened as if to smother the sound. Judy drew in what little air was left so that she could focus on what she'd heard. Was it really the wind?

But Nick had taken her by the shoulders and was steering her straight down the path. "Let's leave the crying for another time, Fluff. Did you forget we're here to investigate the mysterious path?"

Nick did have a point. As they walked, it seemed the darkness wanted nothing to do with the crying. Every attempt was being made by the darkness to blot out the sound. 

Judy wasn't sure how much further she could go into the heavy darkness. The glamour was now layered so thick against the crying that it was starting to drag at her ankles. A less aura sensitive mammal might be able to press on. Judy was going to need a bit of help.

She stepped away from Nick and drew her sword. The glint of the blade in the glow of the foxfires showed the texture of the darkness. If she found the right place to cut through, she would be able to continue. She chose her line of attack, and swung down.

She threw up a shield over Nick and herself just in time. The aggression, without the arrays to channel it, had flooded towards Nick and Judy instead. Judy's shield creaked under the onslaught, but held.

"Seems like our fox doesn't like us bashing through his forest," said Nick. His gaze drifted down to Judy's cheek before snapping back up to meet her gaze again. "What's with the sword?"

"The aura is too thick now for me to navigate. I thought of cutting through with my sword." She shoved the last traces of darkness off her shield, and when it didn't try to push back she dropped the protective spell entirely. "Whatever is at the end of this path wasn't meant for rabbits, even mediums or exorcists. Most rabbits would have been turned away by the darkness."

"Think a fox guardian might have better luck?"

"You won't have the same trouble as I would with the aura," Judy admitted. "But you know this is a trap by an angry spirit. Are you sure you want to keep going by yourself?"

"Curiosity is a terrible thing, Carrots. Particularly when you're a fox. I want to know who managed to stymie Exorcist Judy Hopps. Just a peek, and I'll be back. The other fox won't even know I was there."

"Aren't you familiar with the saying curiosity killed the cat?"

"Then it's a very good thing I'm not a member of a feline species." He winked at her. "Don't miss me too terribly."

He sidled along the edge between the path and the woods, and disappeared from Judy's sight before she could dissuade him further. Nick's method was better than hacking through the forest with her sword, but Judy wondered if she should still go after him. If the trap wasn't for a rabbit, that still left the question of who the trap was truly for.

The sound of weeping drifted through the woods again, and the darkness quivered.

Perhaps the weeping was the key to making it further through the forest. With her sword still drawn, Judy stepped off the beaten path.

There was surprisingly little resistance as she went. The foxfires left by Nick gave Judy enough light to avoid the tree roots, but as the darkness receded she relied on the actual sun more. With the fading dark, the air grew lighter and easier to breathe. Even the fallen leaves were crisp under Judy's feet, before decay had time to set in.

Then, suddenly, she burst out of the woods into a clearing.

Having grown up on a farm with orchards, she could see that the clearing was too regular to be natural. Even with this care, the lone tree in the middle of the small clearing was doing poorly, shedding leaves while it was still heavy with fruit. With an aura tingled with profound sadness, the leaves seemed like tears. No. Now that Judy was paying attention to the aura, she knew the leaves _were_ tears.

She sheathed her sword and said to the tree, "Please don't hurt yourself this way."

Startled by Judy's remark, the tree shivered back into stillness. When the last of the leaves had drifted to the ground, Judy glimpsed a rabbit spirit peering at her from between the branches. Its aura was the same as the tree's.

As soon as Judy took a step forward, the spirit dashed into the tree trunk like a rabbit disappearing down a rabbit hole. Judy went right up to the trunk to feel the rabbit spirit hiding under the rough bark. At the base of the trunk, straw had been laid out as mulch for the tree. A little more searching, and Judy found the same type of bottle as the one she'd left for the fox spirit in the woods. Another Hopps had been by with offerings already.

Judy leaned against the trunk and wondered aloud, "Who are you?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This fic will be put on hold for a while as I finish up true colours, my other Zootopia-Star Trek crossover. But it will be finished, see you within the month!


	4. Chapter 4

Nick was used to getting in and out of places easily. The more secure someone wanted his place to be, the clearer the edge was between his and not his. Then Nick could just sidle his way in and out along that edge. Even if that someone was spiritually aware enough to ward his edges, Nick had a knack for arrays. He could have unravelled the arrays for the protective wards with enough time.

He was unused to arrays and paths designed for him to pass through. He had joked about it earlier with Judy, but the reality of a path he had to walk alone was starting to sink in. Walking alone meant he had no one to share his thoughts with. Walking alone meant he could feel how oppressive the glamour was. Walking alone meant he could recall that this was a trap.

At the end of the path was another fox spirit. The other spirit had stronger glamour, but he wasn't sure if that translated to power. Or even age - if Judy's story was true, the spirit he was about to meet was a fox with five tails. Nick had never seen a fox with five tails before. Nick had never even seen other foxes with the same number of tails that he had. In Zootopia, the population density meant that spirits were the first to be displaced. Nick couldn't imagine being allowed to haunt a city block the size of the forest he was in for 200 years - Nick himself only had a bridge. Maybe Wilde Times, if you were pushing it.

"Dark thoughts for dark woods," he muttered to himself, and shook himself all over. After crossing the threshold of Judy's farm, energy kept sticking to him. He could tolerate the living energy from Judy's farm; less so the tar of the gloom in the woods. The dark aura didn't drag at Nick as it did with Judy, but it would hide a fox spirit for as long as he wanted.

Time to shake things up a bit. "Alright, buddy. I've walked this yellow brick road long enough. Why don't you let me take a peek behind the curtain?" The woods remained silent and still. "No? I guess if there's nothing for me here, I should just head back." Nick skated a while along the edge of foxfire light and forest dark, before tipping towards darkness and sinking into it. Two could play at hide and seek.

He remained in the darkness long enough for the damp to begin seeping through his form before the other fox appeared.

Nick immediately forgot the damp. He'd heard about the difference between city foxes and country foxes, although it was a mass of contradictions. Country foxes were stockier, but city foxes were plumper due to good food. Country foxes had healthy coats because of the fresh air, but city foxes had better products to maintain their coats. Country foxes had bad limbs due to hard work, but city foxes had bad feet since they were walking on cemented ground.

Looking at the other fox spirit, Nick thought the differences were overrated. The other fox was shorter, which meant he wasn't as svelte as Nick. But neither was the other fox as stocky as rumour made them out to be. The only thing that gave him away as as country fox was that he wore heavy clothing more suited to fields than factories.

What Nick was most fascinated by was that the colour of the other fox spirit had carried over into death, with fur of black and silver that mimicked the gloom and the pale trunks of the trees. Colour aside, most spirit sensitive mammals wouldn't have been able to see the spirit haunting these woods. The other spirit was more cautious than Nick had been, keeping to the edges all the way rather than being in one state or another. Judy, with her exorcist training, might have been able to read his presence from the ripples in the aura of her surroundings. Yet Nick saw him as clear as the day that was being held at bay by the glamour. The only difficulty Nick had was with counting the number of fox tails, as they kept weaving and twisting around each other.

Even though Nick had misgivings about how the entire situation seemed tailor-made for him, he slipped back onto the path. "Who's that walking in these spooky old woods?" he called out to the other spirit slinking along the edges of the path.

Right in front of Nick, the spirit cast enough glamour that he simply disappeared into the gloom. Nick tsked, familiar enough from casting his own glamours that he could see where the other spirit had gone. "I gotta say, pal, you need better social skills. You don't just draw a guy in and then leave him hanging. What's with the whole blushing schoolgirl act?"

That drew a peek of a snout around the curve of a tree trunk, nose twitching as the other fox tried to suss if Nick was friend or foe. Then the snout was drawn back to be replaced by a pair of glowing yellow eyes hovering like lit lanterns in the dark.

Nick drifted back as the other fox spirit glided out of the gloom. This was a dark spirit of the likes that Nick had never seen, and Nick did have a few mirrors handy. Instead of the jagged edges Nick's aura took on when he went dark, the dark aura of this spirit wisped like smoke on the wind. In the middle of the spirit's aura, his eyes burned like coals.

The effect was ruined when the spirit snorted. "This coming from the guy with aura smeared all over his muzzle like lipstick he forgot to wipe off?" His drawl brought out the sarcasm in his words.

"You mean mammals wear lipstick all the way out here in the boonies?" Nick resisted the urge to scrub at his mouth, and settled for a shrug. "What can I say? I just have that much appeal that ladies leave their marks all over me. Hey, that wasn't an invitation for you to do the same, I don't even know your name."

The other fox paused in his sniffing of the mark on Nick's muzzle. "That's from a rabbit."

"Yeah, I get a variety outside of vixens. But I'm not here to give pointers on picking up ladies, Mr - "

"I don't care for pointers on picking up rabbits."

"Well if you're into tigers instead, more power to you. Wow, talking preferences before introductions? I'm not that kind of fox. If you're not going to give me a name, I'm going to give you one. Mr Black? Nah, too formal. Cinders? Too whimsical. I know! How about Guy?"

"Do you even know what rabbits are like?"

"Guy it is then. Guy, I hate to break it to you, but you must not get out of the woods very often. We're in Bunnyburrow, I've seen plenty of what rabbits are like."

"That's the nice friendly face of it. I can tell from your fancy suit you're from out of town. Wandered around the city square and the fancy signposts, been told the polite story for strangers to the place, haven't you?"

"I had a more local tour." Nick didn't share the extent of it had been a quick meal at the Hopps farm.

"Have you. Then tell me, if this is a town of sheep and wolves and all other kind of mammals, why's it called Bunnyburrow then?"

"I'm sure bunnies have the largest population. They are good at multiplying."

"Sure. Name it after the largest population, as if the rest of us don't matter."

"Well, I come from Zootopia, and I can tell you the name means diddly-squat because the mammals there don’t hold hands and sing kumbaya. Besides, you've carved yourself a pretty nice place in Bunnyburrow. I'll go a little lighter on the Goth motif, if I could introduce you to an interior designer - "

"You think I'm here just cos I wanna be?" For a wispy spirit Guy was doing the looming quite well. "I was _murdered_ in this forest, and I want mammals to know this. Especially you."

"You sure know how to make a fox feel special. Why'd you go to all this trouble for lil ole me?"

"You're a fool in love. You made it this far because of this - " Guy broke off to stare in surprise at Nick's grip on his wrist.

Nick had just meant to stop Guy from touching the mark on his muzzle. Triggered by an aura similar to his, Nick’s claws had gone thin and sharp. His aura around his paws mirrored the sharpness of his claws, like gloves made of knives.

Guy's eyes were glowing even brighter yellow with his intense scrutiny of all these changes. "Huh. Has your love already killed you?"

"I thought foxes were supposed to be lucky with guesses." At least his teeth were still normal so Nick could flash a cocky grin. "She was 50 years too late for that. Then again, what was I expecting of someone who thinks whistling is a sign of love?"

"Is that how Little Al has been telling my story these days? That guardian likes to leave out the most important part."

"That you have an unhealthy obsession with the colour black?"

"When I whistled for her at the window, she smiled back at me." The glow of his eyes dimmed as his focus turned inwards to memories. "She smiled back at me."

Since Guy wasn't paying attention, Nick dropped his wrist. For all Nick knew the saccharine was catching, just as his dark aura was. "Right. Are we in a Hallmark card now? Could things get any cheesier than a Chez Cheese burger? I thought you were going to tell me a story about the rabbit that played at Rapunzel and her protective brothers that pushed you into a thicket of thorns."

Nick hoped the burning glare Guy turned on him was metaphorical and had no effect on aura at all. Guy's voice had tipped to the very edge of a growl. "You reckoned I brought you all the way here just to tell you about my death. Al could tell you how it went down. But he won't speak ill of his kind and talk about the why."

"Hmmm, let me make a wild guess." Nick tapped a now thankfully normal claw against the size of his muzzle. "I'm thinking that this Al is a bunny. Man, those bunnies, murdering foxes and getting stories wrong, I don't understand how mammals can stand to be in the same town as them."

"That just shows how little you know about rabbits. Rabbits'll get along with you just fine, if you play by their rules. They'll let you craft their tools, sew their clothes, work their fields, even let you make the food they put in their mouths. But break their rules, startle them too badly, and they'll do what they like to you."

"And I suppose you're here to warn me like the ghost of Christmas past."

"You've already broken the rules." At least Guy only looked at the mark this time without touching it. "Don't make the rabbits nervous. Skip town before you end up like me."

"With an entire forest to haunt? Gotta say you got a good deal on the real estate. I could use a space like this, I have a rabbit to keep away the pitchforks."

"The rabbit you love? A rabbit? One of those nervy little creatures?"

"It's my turn to ask do you even know what rabbits are like? Maybe things were different two hundred years ago, but just a few months ago? This rabbit got into a fight with a sheep and won."

"Rabbits can fight. How else do you think I died?" Guy was drifting even closer now, his limp feet dragging along the floor as if he was still hanging. "I wonder what makes you think your rabbit will fight for you? Out of love? What is there to love about you? Do you think your pointed nose and sharp teeth are pleasing to a rabbit?"

Barbs only hurt if you let their hooks sink in. Water off a duck's back, Wilde, never let them see that they get to you. "I'm pretty sure Playbunny would print that article, do you want me to Zoogle the address for you?"

Guy was too absorbed in his rant. "Did you think you were the first to love as you have? Did you think you were the only one deluded to think love could triumph all? You'll come to learn, like I have, that love is a lie."

"Wow. Thanks for the lecture, Granddad. I'll make sure to look both ways before crossing the road and get home before curfew. Without stopping to whistle at rabbits." Despite his words, Nick had been drifting back as Guy advanced. Shift an inch back, and Nick would be off the path and back into the darkness that Guy controlled. And this time Guy was paying attention.

From the ferocity in his grin, Guy seemed to be banking on that. "You might say that, but I can already see it. You'll find out the hard way that she's a conniving, back-stabbing b - "

Nick grabbed Guy by the collar, even though the gesture made his claws punch through the cloth and darkened aura splash all the way up to his elbows. "Don't talk about her that way."

Guy's grin showed off teeth as needle sharp as Nick was sure his were right now. "Y'know, you're just proving my point now."

"Your point that you're a hypocrite who says the worst thing about bunnies with the same mouth that's tasted their offerings? Yeah, I know about that. The rabbit you were insulting brought your offerings this year."

"I didn't ask for them!" Guy snapped.

"You ever mention that to the medium then?" When Guy bared his teeth without making a sound, Nick continued. "I might be new here, but I'm pretty sure offerings come as a deal with Bunnyburrow, along with all the bunnies. So if you hate rabbits all that much, if you've got a medium all ready to guide you to the other side, what's still keeping you in Bunnyburrow, Guy? To see how much black you can use in your decorating? To shout dire warnings at strangers in the woods?"

"You have to know! What happened to me could happen to you!"

"I knew the risks long before you stuck your nose where it didn't belong." Nick shoved hard enough that Guy teetered on the edge of the path furthest from Nick. "Consider me warned. You might want to take up a new hobby, I hear haunted woods aren't as trendy any more."

The back of Nick's neck prickled as Guy watched Nick head down the path the way he came. That was a welcome distraction from the whirling chaos of Nick's mind and heart.

 

Judy wasn't where Nick had left her.

If they were back in Zootopia, Nick knew where he could find her. Even the Academy wouldn't have been a problem because his entire training had been spent together with Judy, who'd regretted opting out of all the classes involving guardian spirits to graduate in the shortest time possible. But in Bunnyburrow there was no ZED HQ or favourite tree where Nick could find Judy. The Hopps family farm wasn't Judy's shoebox apartment. Beyond these, Nick was out of ideas where Judy could be. Of course. She was back where she belonged, there was no reason why she would wait for him.

No, no those were dark thoughts for dark woods, that was Guy and not Nick at all. The memory of their conversation drew a low growl from Nick.

The darkness thickened, before quivering and receding away from the sound. Nick had seen this happen before, though he hadn't been making the sound then. Someone else had been crying, and Judy had been curious about the sound. Without a fox to hold her back, had she gone looking for it?

Despite his own misgivings, Nick barged off the path and into the unknown where the sound had come from. For a distance both the darkness and the foxfires kept pace with him, but then they started giving way to weak sunlight. The smell of damp and rot receded to leave the scent of crisp autumn air in its wake.

It should have been easier to navigate the woods now; it was not. The crisp autumn air was blowing in a brisk breeze that had tossed up the leaves. Their flurry scattered the sunlight, making it hard to tell where exactly the sun was. The sameness of the tree trunks confused directions even more. Nick strained to hear any kind of sound at all -

Then he heard it: the crackle of leaves so dry that they broke apart at the lightest touch. Even though the rabbit walking on them had quick light steps, as if she were stepping on spring flowers and dewy grass rather than snapping vibrant leaves and dry twigs, the sound of her footsteps carried.

Nick walked towards that sound until the swirling leaves cleared and he saw Judy in her exorcist blues against all the brown, like a splash of water in the dry earth. Definitely a sight for sore eyes. At some point, she'd gone back for the picnic basket she had carried the offerings in, which was swinging from her paw now her sword was back in its sheath.

Whatever Judy meant to say was startled and lost when Nick slouched forward to drop his head upon her shoulder. At least that meant his goofy smile was out of her line of sight, though he had to hold back a sigh when her gentle paws combed through his ruff.

"... Have you been rolling around in the leaves? You have all sorts of aura stuck to your fur."

"That actually sounds nicer than what I've been doing."

"I'll bring a brush next time, and you can roll as much as you like." She tugged at something on Nick's shoulder before giving up. "Did you manage to see the other fox?"

"Uh huh." With some reluctance, Nick heaved himself back upright. "Well, he's not someone I'll make small talk with at a dinner party, he has more dire warnings than a doomsday prophet. What about you, Fluff? I suppose you went looking for the weeping in the woods? Excellent job on stopping the waterworks by the way, I'll be sure to leave any crying kids to you next time."

"Stop it," said Judy, though she was chuckling. "You're just as good at listening as I am. It turns out our weeping spirit wanted someone to hear her part of the story too."

"Her part? Have I heard the rest of it before?"

"Remember the story about the fox that whistled at a rabbit? It turns out that she was the rabbit in that story. And she has a message for the fox that died because of her."

"That sounds easy enough for a medium to do. What kept your mom from fixing this?"

"Let's get to the edge of the fox spirit's path."

Whatever had disorientated Nick didn't seem to have an effect on Judy, who seemed to know where she was going. She did stop when only a hint of glamour had started to darken the space between the trees, long before they'd reached the path. From her picnic basket she drew an apple, red and firm. She rolled this along the ground.

The apple had barely tumbled a few feet when its momentum slowed as the colour was leeched from it. Finally it sank out of sight among the leaves.

"That was a lousy roll, Carrots. Do you have another apple?"

Judy drew one from the basket and held out to Nick. Nick's paw pads had barely brushed the apple when it sank upon itself, rot and mush radiating from the point of Nick's touch. She let the apple tumble to the forest floor before the rot could reach her paw.

With her now empty paw Judy flipped Nick's paw over, pad side up. "You have left over aura from the other fox spirit on your paws."

"Yeah, I had to shake him down for information. I guess his aura keeps all things rabbit out huh?"

"Aura reflects the emotions of the mammal. If our fox spirit hates rabbits that much, his aura will have the same reaction."

"Which makes it impossible to get your rabbit's message to him."

"Not impossible. Just harder. Come along, I'm sure you can put your fox smarts to work on this problem." There Judy went again with the casual paw holding, her paw sliding to fit in his despite seeing what the dark aura left on Nick's paw could do. She didn't have the excuse of sharing aura this time, though she was guiding them further into the forest. Holding Judy's paw as she led him through semi-darkness reminded Nick of the Natural History Museum and their fight with Bellwether. Judy had fought for him then, hadn't she? Judy had seen the worst of Nick and she hadn't been startled, had she?

The only way to answer these questions was to follow Judy deeper into the woods.

 

Of course the rabbit was in an apple tree.

Nick had heard of spirits possessing non-living and living things, but he had never considered it as an option outside of his grave. Non-living things were too static and made him antsy about staying in one place. Living things came with worries like thoughts and consent and other things that made Nick squirm. Trees had the worst of both. They were rooted, and Nick was pretty sure if he possessed one he would forget about it needing water and kill it within the week.

Then again, this rabbit spirit didn't seem to know how to treat her tree right and it had still remained upright for 200 years. She'd gone heavy on the fruit and light on the leaves and Nick was pretty sure if she shoved herself any further down the trunk she'd end up jamming the roots.

Judy was crouched at its base, aura spread wide and reassuring as if coaxing a nervous kit to come out. "Brina, this is my guardian I was telling you about. Don't you want to talk to him?"

"Don't worry, Carrots, I'm not in a hurry to talk to anyone."

"Oh shush. Brina's fine."

She probably was, but Nick wasn't. He still was covered in toxic aura that rotted apples. Who knew what other effects it had? He nabbed a falling leaf, expecting it to rot away in his paws.

The opposite happened. From the point where the leaf rested in his paw, his aura cleared to show his actual aura, a green as vibrant as the leaf he still held.

While he was still marvelling at the change, another set of paws wrapped around his. He'd held Judy's paw often enough to know that this wasn't her. Brina had finally come out of her hiding place.

For a spirit, she was paler than the norm. Where her fur was white in life was translucent on her spirit form, making her brown markings stand out in stark contrast, especially when her aura was a grey outline around her form. Her large, trailing ears framed the sides of her face and brushed Nick's paws as she leaned over them.

He started when wet drops splattered on his paws. When Brina raised her head he saw that her tears had completely wiped away the black aura.

"See, I knew you could make that work," said Judy, laying a gentle paw on Brina's shoulder.

"Just throw yourself crying into his arms, and I think we have ourselves a soap opera ending here." Nick had never been so pleased to see the green of his own aura. He held them up, squinting through his fingers at gold leaves and filtered autumn sunlight.

"... but I still can't make it through the woods," said Brina, and covered her face with her paws.

"Carrots here has all kinds of pouches, I'm sure you'll find one to your liking."

Judy was already shaking her head. "My mom has already tried. It's possible for anyone who isn't a rabbit to carry Brina into the woods, but the fox spirit can sense when she's coming and goes into hiding."

"I'm sorry to be such a bother to your family. It's just... If... if you could bring one of my apples to him... perhaps he could be convinced..."

Nick considered the apples on the branch nearest to him. "If I may?" At Brina's nod, he tugged an apple off the tree. It wasn't as full and as perfect as the one that Judy had got for him, but it would make a good start for an array.

Judy peered over his arm and though Nick knew they were really in a Bunnyburrow forest it felt like they were back at the Academy, working on a problem together. "What do you think after seeing the fox spirit?"

"Does he not have a name? Even he didn't want to speak of it."

Judy met his gaze as she said, "His name is James Grieve."

Nick started as the aura on his paws darkened again, triggering the apple to start sinking in on itself. Judy mimicked the way Brina had cupped her paws around Nick's earlier, and the rot cleared from the apple, though it definitely looked a bit yellow.

"Maybe you should hold the apple." Nick lobbed the apple in a low arc at Judy, who caught it out of the air.

"After the wrong that was done by my kind, James can't trust in my heart," Brina sighed. "It's all my fault. I should just give up."

"He's not actually received any of your messages." Judy folded Brina's paws around the apple, where it bloomed to a healthy ripeness again. "He might have a change of heart after we get through to him."

"If we can get through to him, Fluff. He told me I only made it through this time because of this." Nick tapped the mark on his muzzle. "Maybe you should feed me another apple."

"I only have apples from Brina's tree right now."

Brina looked down at her paws. "You're very handsome, but they're only meant for one fox."

Nick tugged at his tie, very glad that he didn't have to worry about blushing like Judy had to right now, for a blush dusted the inside of Judy's perked ears. Huh, so she was embarrassed but not ashamed. That was something for another time, along with what was up with Bunnyburrow and apples. "Alright, so eating apples are out! Ex-girlfriend Brina entering the forest, also out. Even though Carrots doesn't do strange things to apples, she can't enter the forest without offending our guy Grieve."

"Maybe I could." Judy stopped cradling Brina's paws to face Nick. "Remember the possession exercises we did at Academy?"

"The ones where you shoved me out with your soul? I think I still have bruises."

"What if I didn't shove you out? If you possessed me, your aura could mask mine."

"I think someone needs to go back to Exorcist Academy," said Nick, flicking the hilt of Judy's sword with his finger. "Masking auras was not the point of the possession exercises."

"But you know I'm right about the auras. Plus, my body could act as a buffer between the apple and you."

"You're that confident that's all I'll do with your body, Fluff?"

"Yes."

Judy's unwavering response should have been answer enough to the questions that had been bugging him since he'd met Guy aka Grieve in the forest. His instincts screamed at him to leave well enough alone, to find another way. But Judy had always thrown off Nick's game as a hustler. Guy's mention of Judy made Nick doubt, and her offer now made him greedy. He wanted to take her up on her offer, wanted to grasp it with both paws before she thought better of it.

"You remember how it went in Academy, Whiskers? Just the first part, forget the rest."

"I come from a family of mediums that let possessed spirits talk through them. I know how possessions work."

"We've got a witness right here. You're going to look really bad if you shove me out after all you said."

"Brina, does he sound like he's stalling to you? I think he's stalling."

Despite the paw Brina held to her mouth, Nick could see the corners of Brina's smile around it. "I think he's just trying to be a gentleman."

"Thank you, Brina. See, the other rabbit gets it."

"Brina has waited 200 years for the chance to have her message delivered. She has reserves of patience that I don't. C'mon, Guardian Wilde, don't tell me you've forgotten how possessions work."

"Ha! I think you're the one who's forgotten your Spirit Powers 101, Exorcist Hopps."

Possession really was 101, the easiest of easy things to do for a spirit. He'd done it once to Judy by accident, way back when they had faced down a jaguar spirit that'd gone dark. Possession was a matter of going intangible enough to inhabit another form. Nick did exactly that now, going ghostly and letting his soul drift into Judy's body until he was nestled within, two souls in one body.

Keeping control of a possession - now that was a master's course.

The thing about entering a body was that the spirit had to adjust to fit the form in order to have any hope of control. In a tree that might mean stretching out, sinking fingers into branches and toes into roots. In a rabbit like Judy, that meant stretching out ears to fit rabbit ears and being startled by how many more sounds she picked up. Getting used to seeing deeper shadows through rabbit eyes that didn't have a fox's night vision. Adjusting claws to a length more appropriate for digging and running quickly.

Then there was the other issue with living things: the other soul in that body that didn't have to make these adjustments, that was already a good match. During Academy Nick and other guardian spirits had possessed exorcists during training, Judy among them. The exorcists had learnt to quickly throw out a foreign spirit while they were adjusting to fit the form. He knew Judy had a knack for tossing spirits out when they were most distracted.

He'd never seen the reverse of it before, until now. Now, Judy felt where his spirit was reaching out to and responded by loosening her control. She pulled back from the tip of her ears, from her fingers and toes. She pulled in until her soul was nestled in the deepest part of her body and Nick was holding her with his own soul.

From that moment Nick knew it didn't matter if Judy saw anything in him to love, if she would fight for him. All that mattered that Nick treasured every part of Judy, and he would fight for _her_.

He straightened Judy's exorcist uniform as he would his jacket, and flashed his most charming smile at Brina. "Now where's that message you need delivered?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *rises from a grave* I LIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIVE
> 
> I expected to be done sooner than this, but well. I hope this chapter makes up for the delay! Especially since it features what inspired the title of the fic.
> 
> ... I make no promises on the next chapter, although Google tells me the last day of autumn is Dec 20.


	5. Chapter 5

Judy should never have left Nick alone in the woods.

She had not known that away from the path, the woods to a fox were a dizzying maze of tree trunks and leaves. The ease with which she had left the path was nothing like the way they were making it back.

If Judy had control of her body, she would have found the path easily. Her aura sensitivity would have let her tell the direction where the fox spirit's glamour laid thickest. But this capability was part of her soul, not her body. Nick couldn't tap on her aura sensitivity to make his way around.

That meant Judy had to guide them, because although she'd given up control of her body, her soul was still all hers. The thing was, giving direction as a soul wasn't easily when possessed. She had no physical mouth to move. There were entire books written on whether a soul had any shape when it wasn't the dominant soul within a body, but Judy knew from experience that her voice didn't carry the same way. When she spoke, only Nick heard her. _You're on the right track,_ she told him.

Within her own body, Judy saw what he saw - the forest, rather than herself. She couldn't see what expression he might be making with her face. She occasionally caught glimpses of the leafy branch Nick was twirling with the paw that wasn't holding the picnic basket. She could however, hear him say in her voice, "You seem to know the way better. Sure you don't want to take the driver's seat, Fluff?"

_You need to have better control by the time we get to the path._

"Fooling the path, masking the message for as long as possible, yadda yadda yadda." As Judy wondered if she'd ever said "yadda" in her life, Nick added, "Guy's going to know what we've done as soon as I open my mouth."

_I'd tell you not to talk, but we all know how impossible that is._

"Ha! Good to know that you're still doing well in there." Even as he said that, Nick was already shifting his aura around her such that he was cradling her.

Judy might have come from a family of mediums that considered possession just another tool of the trade. That still hadn't prepared her for the reality of possession. She'd put up all the necessary shields and wards to keep her soul as its own entity, but that didn't change how vulnerable she felt.

Nick seemed to have picked up on that, with how gently he was holding her with his own soul. Instead of poking fun as he poked fun at everything, he'd left off his own shields and left himself vulnerable too.

Judy ought to have said something. She ought to have reminded him that as a aura sensitive, leaving his shields down left the emotions in his aura laid bare to her. Instead, she selfishly used his emotions as a balm for her own vulnerability.

It was a balm she clung to, when the path appeared to their shared sight. As Nick stepped onto the path and Judy braced herself for a lungful of aura. She wasn't sure how the path felt to a fox spirit with rabbit lungs, but she didn't expect it to be good.

Between her shields and how nestled she was within Nick's soul, all Judy felt was the weight of aura on her body's shoulders, like a physical force. At the pressure, Nick ended his twirling of the leafy branch Brina had handled him by letting the branch smack into the palm of Judy's paw for a proper hold. He brought down the branch with a swipe that made Judy wonder if Nick had taken sword fighting classes before, or if her muscle memory was better than she believed.

More importantly, Brina's tears in the form of leaves had the desired effect of clearing the dark aura. The air in the line of Nick's swipe had lightened, both in terms of the darkness and the pressure.

Nick held the leaves up so they both could check it. "Looks like this is good for another few uses."

_Thinking of becoming an exorcist too, Guardian Wilde?_

"Only if you figure out how to be a guardian spirit, Exorcist Hopps. Keep up the running commentary when we meet our fox spirit, I want to know what a riot you think our Guy is."

Nick swung the branch another time before he paused. Judy felt her nose twitch, though it felt less like nervousness and more like Nick was trying to sniff the air and getting no feedback from a rabbit nose.

That was Judy's only warning before the fox spirit burst out of the darkness along the side of the path. It had to be Grieve - his aura meshed with the glamour induced darkness so perfectly that Judy couldn't see where the fox spirit's aura ended. She could feel the edges of his aura though, for the wisps edging his aura stung her fur, like how Judy imagined the tentacles of jellyfish might feel. She couldn't help but compare this to the last time she'd faced down a vengeful spirit - when Nick had given sway to his darkness, she could still see past his aura to read the core of the spirit beneath it. She couldn't do the same for Grieve. The darkness had permeated every part of his spirit form.

"How'd a rabbit make it this far?" Grieve demanded, maw opening wide enough to show needle thin teeth. "Especially one with your marks." The fox spirit pointed to his own cheek where Judy had marks from the Grey ancestor.

"Don't you recognise me, Guy? The same way I made it the first time," said Nick, passing over Judy's scars to tap her muzzle. "Just trying out a new look."

"You hate being a fox that much?"

"I am but a guest in this body. The name Hopps mean anything to you?"

Even with Nick in control, Judy saw recognition flash across Grieve's face. The brief glimpse didn't let Judy read whether he only recognised her surname, or if he saw the family resemblance. She did know he had pretty definite views on her presence when his teeth closed in a snarl. "Mrs Hopps knew to keep to our drop-off," Grieve forced out through gritted teeth.

"Was it her courtesy or was it your glamour? Because Carrots here couldn't make it down your fork in the road until she started up this timeshare, and you were pretty surprised to see us just a moment ago."

"If I wanted to see rabbits, I could wander by the town square. Ain't a need to walk one all the way here like a sack of meat."

When Nick gripped the branch hard enough that the bark cut into Judy's palm, Judy said, _Nick, it's alright. You should tell him about Brina._

"Carrots isn't just any rabbit," said Nick, ignoring Judy. "But she doesn't actually want to see you. We wouldn't be here if it weren't for Brina - "

The darkness choked out the rest of what Nick had to say, even though Judy could feel her mouth moving. In the darkness, Grieve's eyes burned like coals. It was too dark to see his teeth, but she could feel the heat of his breath as his maw gaped open.

Nick brought the branch swishing between Grieve and the both of them, bringing the cool of autumn and the damp of tears to the air. Judy could see distinct shapes again - the edge of the path, the outline of trees, the silhouette of Grieve against a background of black.

Grieve shook himself and the darkness quivered, but did not return. He bared his teeth, but did not snap at them. "What was that?"

In response, Nick simply shook the branch the way it would have rustled in a breeze, and Grieve gritted his teeth at the sound. "Why'd it sound like crying?"

"Because it is. I'd give you a lecture on possession but all you need to know is these are tears shed for you sorry self by - "

"That's a lie!"

Nick waved the branch again.

The sound of the leaves was blotted out by sharp whining from Grieve. There was more pain than anger in both the sound and the emotions in his aura. Before Judy could offer a comforting paw, the whine shifted into a shriek as Grieve bolted deeper into the woods.

"I never had this much exercise before I met you," Nick groused, even as he twirled the branch to a better position to chase after Grieve.

The chase started off well. As Nick ran in Judy's body, he drew fox fire to line the path. The light showed them the different things that made up the array of the forest. While Judy couldn't see the array itself, Nick could. Within moments he had found Grieve.

But it had been too long since Nick had a physical body. His gait was awkward. Now and then he stumbled over tree roots or the uneven path or his feet. The next time Nick tripped, Judy unfurled herself and nudged his soul.

"This part of forest isn't for rabbits," he warned.

 _I know._ Her heart trusted that with Nick by her side it would be alright.

Nick gave up control with no more questions, his soul snapping back to what it was used to. Judy's soul rushed to fill its usual space and regain control of her body.

Sensation was the first to return. Her lungs burned. They'd been pushed to breathe against the aura filled air, and they were paying for the exertion. The rest of her body however, had barely even scraped their limits. Judy coaxed more out of her lungs as she put on a burst of speed to catch up with Grieve. If this had been a normal forest, she could have kept up the chase with the stamina she'd honed in the Academy. But she was running out of air.

She shifted her grip on the branch to match the grip she used for her sword, meshed the branch's aura with hers and snapped off a binding spell.

Grieve jerked to a halt, held in place by Judy's binding. As Judy drew closer she saw that he was occupied with worrying at the binding with his teeth. He didn't even look up when Judy swung the branch to sketch a circle around them.

 _What is it with you and circles?_ Nick teased.

Judy tapped the circle with the branch to activate it. "What is it with fox spirits and getting trapped in them?"

Nick radiating amusement from within Judy was a stark contrast to the bitter fox spirit in front of her. But Judy couldn't forget that just a few months ago, Nick had been just as angry as Grieve when she had found him at his grave. Just a few months ago, she had gone to Zootopia ready to have her apology rebuffed. As Brina's aura cleared the air of Grieve's heavy glamour, Judy's heart remained heavy. If Nick hadn't let Judy apologise, would she have been as determined as Brina?

It was this thought that Judy held onto as she released Grieve from his binding. Grieve didn't attack, simply curled up on himself and waited.

Nick wasn't as calm, breaking the possession to keep a close watch on the both of them, Judy could feel the worry in his aura from where he hovered by her shoulder. She kept hers comforting and reassuring as she crouched down to speak to Grieve.

"I know I'm not the rabbit who should apologise. The ones who put you here, the ones who have caused you such pain, none of them have come to apologise - except for one."

Grieve pushed his snout further under his swishing tails.

"Maybe you'll never forgive Brina, and I don't blame you. Given all that's been done to you, there's too much bad karma between the both of you." Judy reached into the basket, and pulled out one of the apples that she had been given. "But this apple is her gesture to let you know she wants to make amends."

"I. Don't. Want it," Grieve grit out.

"You don't have to forgive her. But if you want to move beyond your pain, you have to let her try to fix this." Judy held out the apple to Grieve. "Can you at least think about it?"

Grieve's tails shifted that one yellow eye peered out at Judy. Without breaking eye contact, he reached out for the apple.

Judy made herself hold his gaze. Looking at the apple wouldn't stop it from rotting if Grieve had held on to enough of his anger that it corrupted the gesture from Brina. She trusted Nick to warn her of any other ill effects.

Grieve touched the tip of one finger to the apple. Judy held her breath when the apple remained firm in her palm, with no shifts in aura.

She couldn't say the same of Grieve's aura. Like smoke eddied by the wind, the darkness in Grieve's aura shifted with his swirling emotions. Sometimes dark tendrils lashed against Judy's aura with the cutting emotions of anger and grief. Sometimes his aura cleared to show his longing and wistfulness. All throughout, his gaze burned with the intensity that he was watching Judy.

Then the apple was snatched out of her paw and tucked away. Judy waited for a spike in aura, a sharp word from Grieve, anything. All she got in return was a withdrawn aura, the murmur of emotions running through it too muted for her to pick them apart.

Nick squeezed her shoulder. At the gesture she stood and bowed. "If you have any message for Brina, you can let any of the Hopps know. We'll help."

Grieve said nothing as Judy broke the circle, and said nothing still as Judy let Nick lead her out of the woods.

 

After the chill of the woods, Judy was glad of the respite in the kitchen back home, the already cosy room warmed even further by the kettle on the stove and the freshly poured tea in front of her. She cupped her paws around her favourite mug, drawing in the warmth and the scent of cinnamon.

Across the table, her Mom did the same.

That was the extent of their similarities. Ever since she was a young kit, Judy had always been bursting with questions and thoughts whenever she sat with her Mom and her siblings in the kitchen. Now was no exception, with Judy wondering how to recount the story of the Westwoods to Mom.

If Mom had any questions, that didn't reflect in her aura as it did in Judy's. Judy knew her aura was a busy buzz to her Mom's calm. Just as sipping on tea gave Judy something to do, Mom saw it as an exercise in mediation. Judy tried to apply what she'd been taught, to focus on the taste of cinnamon and apple in the tea rather than the thoughts swirling in her head.

It had some success, because it was Mom who started the questions first. "Where's your fox?" she wondered.

While it wasn't "Mr Wilde", as her parents had used at the start, "her fox" didn't sit right either. Judy made sure her Mom noticed that she replied, " _Nick_ is sleeping. Possession takes a lot out of him."

"You could take some tea to him when he wakes up." At least her Mom was still treating Nick like an honoured guest. "I suppose the possession was your idea then."

"Nick only tried possession at the Academy." Nick actually said he was a fox of many talents who didn't need more. If Judy passed that along, she knew her Mom would want to know all of Nick's skills, when Judy wasn't quite sure herself. Right now Judy was more curious about the Westwoods. "I wanted to make it further into the woods. Did you always stop where you told me you left the offerings?"

"Grieve was always careful not to give me reason to come after him in the woods."

"Grieve wanted Nick to come looking for him though." Judy thought of the path that had opened up to Nick. "Was that why you sent us to the Westwoods instead of going yourself this year?"

"The Westwoods have always been easier for spirits to travel through. Your Great Uncle Albert went where I couldn't. That's what guardians do."

"Nick did go by himself. But he doesn't have as many years as Great Uncle Albert, so he couldn't deliver Brina's message - "

"Oh bun-bun." Mom reached across the tabke to squeeze Judy's paw. "No one expected the two of you to fix a 200 year old problem by yourselves."

"I had to, once I knew about the message Brina was trying to get to Grieve. I knew Nick and I could do it together." Judy squeezed back, in the hope that her Mom could read the truth in her aura.

"I see that you believe in him. But bun-bun, doesn't it strike you as strange that you trust him so quickly?"

"Nick saved my life. I know that in our family our guardians are usually the ancestors we grew up with, but we saw so many different types of guardians at Academy. I should've invited you for Nick's graduation!"

"I would have been honoured to come," Mom agreed. "It's always good to see examples with my own eyes rather than just relying on books. And what my eyes tell me now is that whatever went down with the Bellwethers is no longer a debt between the two of you."

"I guess I did save him from Bellwether's control," Judy had to admit. "But Mom, given all that we've gone through together, that we've shared life debts and paid them, isn't that reason enough to trust Nick?"

"I'm not contesting what any exorcist could have seen during months of training. You know what he's done since you've met him. But that doesn't change that he still has his own history. As do you. As do we all. Can you at least keep that in mind for me, bun-bun?"

"I will," Judy assured. "Because I know and appreciate that Nick's past has shaped him into the mammal I trust today. We'll be fine."

"The confidence of youth," said Mom. "How about some tea for Nick then? And the rest of the family is coming by for dinner, so he may as well meet them then."

Judy couldn't help the grin that spread across her face. "Mom. Thank you."

"I wouldn't be so quick to do that. You'll have to make the introductions, and you know how Pop-Pop gets - oof!" Judy cut off the rest of the litany with the tight hug she swept her mom into.

"Just trust me, Mom. Nick and I can do anything."

 

Dinner would have to wait, for Nick wasn't on the couch where Judy had left him napping. 

Nick had a knack of being where Judy least expected him to be. At noon, instead of resting in his grave like most spirits Nick was often to be found where the bustle was, usually teasing Finnick as he hawked pawpsicles in Sahara Square. At midnight, Nick did the opposite by ending up where it was quietest, like the sleepy hole in the wall that no one knew about, or the rooftop with the most spectacular view. In the teeming metropolis that was Zootopia, Judy had learnt to not go looking for Nick if he hadn't brought her along.

But Judy was a Hopps on Hopps land now. The ground told her all she needed to know, and she knew exactly where she and her picnic basket needed to go.

The ground had guided Judy to the spot where she had been tending a stall a few months ago, back when she put aside the exorcist uniform she was wearing now. The Visitor's Way was where the concentrated aura of the Hopps gave way to those of other rabbits, and other mammals like foxes. Judy wondered if he'd been drawn by the aura of other foxes, or if foxes just gravitated towards the tree that the Gray ancestor had been perched in. Nick looked relaxed enough stretched out on his stomach along the tree branch, though different types of aura swirled across his coat.

When she called up to him, his ear flicked as if to swat away the sound before he cracked open an eye. A grin spread across his face as he spotted the basket "Are you that determined to have a picnic, Carrots?"

"Not much of a picnic." She pulled the thermoflask of tea out of the basket and sloshed its contents at him. "Or a house warming present. Are you moving into a tree like Brina did?"

"Not my style, Hopps. You'll have to keep visiting my dinky little bridge." He slipped out of the tree to drift down to her level, though he didn't fully touch the ground. "What's with the big basket for the teeny tea party then?"

She switched out the tea for the brush she wished she had brought earlier to the woods.

"Awww, you shouldn't have." Ever the fox for theatrics, he held out an imperious paw. "Start with this. Remember to be careful with the ears when you get there."

He'd gone solid as he waited to be brushed, which was why Judy was able to hit him with the back of the brush. "May I remind you that you're completely capable of doing it yourself?"

"Capable? Yes. Excellent? No. Which of us can actually see the aura the brush is supposed to remove?"

She adjusted her grip on the brush and told herself it was like helping her Mom check over her younger siblings' appearance for special family gatherings. The thought reminded Judy why she'd come all the way out here. "You're invited for dinner," she said as she ran the brush over the back of Nick's paws. "The rest of the family wants to meet you."

"Here I'd thought your family was a lot smaller than you'd let on."

Perhaps there was a reason why Judy had found Nick here, where she had apologised to other foxes. "You don't have to join us for dinner." The bits of aura Nick had picked up were starting to clear under her brush to show the green she was more familiar with. "There are parts of the family that still believe Bunnyburrow is for bunnies. My parents got quite the earful when they started selling produce to the foxes in town."

"On a scale of 1 to Guy, how does your family measure up?"

"Minus the dark aura, plus more of the shouting."

"Sounds like a riot, Fluff. I can't wait."

"I'm sorry." She had wanted to show how important this place was to her, but all she kept doing was stumbling over the same prejudices that she had been so blind to. "I wanted to show you more of Bunnyburrow than - "

Nick took hold of her paws, stopping her brushing and her rambling. "Sticking together got us through a forest that had been plunged in darkness for 200 years. I think sticking together to get through a family dinner should be a whole lot easier."

She smiled up at him, glad that she wasn't the only one who felt that way. She folded his green aura in hers and tugged him onwards. "Come on then, the rest of the family is waiting."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *squeaks under the deadline* And on the very last day of autumn, this fic was finished!
> 
> I have been staring at this for too long to know what I'm writing. Tell me what you think instead!

**Author's Note:**

> I didn't know there would be so many Halloween fics popping up for Zootopia. The more I thought about it, the more it made sense for Exorcist Hopps and Guardian Wilde to make an appearance.
> 
> So have some Halloween/Day of the Dead/other appropriate fall festival Wilde Spirit fic!
> 
> Now comes with Spotify playlist, as usual. [Check it out on Spotify](https://play.spotify.com/user/raynoskai/playlist/2MMcpv7DJ1EKEUYtIa6fRX) if you have a Spotify account, or hit up the individual songs on the tracklist below:  
> 


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